Schneider Tankers Or Schneider No Touch Regional WalMart Account

I just passed my CDL today and Schneider, the company I will be working for offered me a no touch regional account with WalMart. It's 3 cents a mile more. With approximately 200 extra miles a week.

I know this may seem silly to some but I want to travel the country. I have friends and family from Florida-Washington state and Maine to So Cal.

I would love opinions and advice. I don't need to decide until Monday. My life circumstance allow me to be away from my home for months at a time.

My thoughts right now is it would be a nice gig (Walmart) for a year of experience and then reevaluate when my contract with Schneider is up.

Chad, if you want to run over the road , then just do it!

Let me tell you a secret that few truck drivers seem to realize. Whoever told you approximately 200 more miles per week on that account is merely giving you a "sales pitch." Ultimately, your miles will be something you have a tremendous influence over. If you prove yourself reliable and dependable at "gittin er done" you will have all the miles you can handle.

I would pursue the job you're interested in. If you are enjoying what you do, you will naturally excel at it. Go for what you are interested in, but don't waste too much time visiting with all those friends and relatives - Schneider will be expecting you to run hard, rather than financing your trips to visit your friends!

Thanks Old School.

Chad, options are great, but as OS noted, follow your heart's desire to avoid dis-satisfaction. Personally, I run a M-F dedicated, drop and hook routine and like it just fine. However, other drivers on the same gig are bored out of their minds with it and go back OTR because of the sameness. Out the gate as a rookie, I was OTR 15 months (including stranded in Chicago during blizzard Hercules in 01/14) which was quite enough for me. But, sounds like you are itching to roll coast to coast, so I say go for it. You will likely be able to change to a different gig at will with Schneider.

One of my thoughts is doing regional for a short time is a great way to get experience.

For a rookie a dedicated gig is pretty sweet, a lot less stressful. Boring at times yes. Repetitive? You bet. But the regularity of it makes it easier to dig yourself out of the rookie mistakes you are going to make.

I'm a rookie and I ran a couple weeks and kinda fell into a dedicated account. You'll learn where to park, know exactly what you need to do with your hours, where your going next, any possible delays etc.

Those things make starting out a very good transition because there's that many things that you don't need to puzzle over, you're still going to make mistakes but it's easier to fix them when you don't have a plethora of other things taking up brain juice.

Just my opinion

Thanks guys. I decided on the Walmart account. I figured the experience would mean more over the long haul.

Thanks guys. I decided on the Walmart account. I figured the experience would mean more over the long haul.

I have been running Walmart dedicated grocery for over two years out of Pottsville PA. If you have any specific questions, I will try to answer them. Good luck.